HTL-Strefa: Three questions to the new CEO
HTL-Strefa has over the last seven years under EQT ownership built a best-in-class manufacturing and R&D platform in the rapidly growing market of single-use devices for safety blood micro-sampling and injection needles. To strengthen and expand the company's position as the global market leader, Mikkel Danvold has been appointed as new CEO.
Mikkel comes most recently from a position as Senior Vice President of APAC & Emerging Markets in GN Hearing, part of GN Store Nord, which is one of the world’s largest providers of hearing instruments and diagnostic equipment. He holds broad and global experience from the medtech industry and has a strong track record in successful commercial execution, which will be a focus area for HTL-Strefa’s next development phase.
We gave Mikkel three quick questions to find out what attracted him to joining HTL-Strefa.
First of all, how does it feel?
It feels very good and I am really excited about joining such a great company as HTL-Strefa. Given its high-quality products and strong market position I see significant growth opportunities going forward.
What attracted you to HTL-Strefa and EQT?
What attracted me to this opportunity was HTL-Strefa’s strong innovation capabilities and state-of-the-art production facilities. This provides the solid platform needed to execute on the huge potential I see in the business, especially on the commercial side. It makes me confident that we can further accelerate HTL-Strefa’s already strong business momentum.
Having EQT as the owner was an attractive factor as well. The large potential of this business can only be realized if there is full support from a growth-focused owner willing to invest capital and resources and do what is right for the company long-term.
What will be the direction of HTL-Strefa with you as CEO?
I want to get to know the company better, and meet the employees, the customers etc. before I comment on that. But I can say that there will be no short-term revolutionizing changes.
The company and the employees will continue its dedicated work, which has taken HTL-Strefa to its global market leading position. However, we have identified several areas with improvement potential that we will focus on as soon as I take office on February 1.
Going forward, we will continue to build on our unique capabilities, the strong R&D culture and fantastic high-quality production facility. I will focus on accelerating growth and get the most out of these strengths, among others by evaluating our sales practice and fine-tuning our go-to-market strategy. There is so much potential embedded in this company and I am sure that the organization can accomplish great results and take HTL-Strefa to a new level.
Mads Ditlevsen, Partner at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to the EQT V fund, comments:
"During the ownership of EQT V, sales have been growing by high single digits annually, while significantly improving EBITDA margins. Focus has been to build best-in-class production and transforming the company into an innovation leader with a strong R&D culture. HTL-Strefa is now entering a new phase where focus will be on strengthening the commercial execution. Therefore, EQT is excited to have recruited such a high-calibre person as Mikkel to the role as CEO and I am convinced that HTL-Strefa will become even more successful under his leadership."